Naomi Gillies knows more than she's telling.

Gillies, a 22-year-old music student from Lancaster County, is an entry-level contestant in the 11th season of "American Idol." And she knows what happens next.

"I grew up watching the show, and I was like, wow, I'm in this show," she said Sunday during a telephone interview from Boston.

While she can say she passed the audition — which aired on "American Idol" last week — and appears in the "Hollywood Week" edition that airs this Wednesday on Fox, she can't, according to a nondisclosure agreement with the network, say if she made it through grueling elimination rounds in Pasadena to appear in the semifinals.

"I can't talk about anything that hasn't aired yet," she said. "I could have gotten cut the very first round or I still could be in it. I just can't talk about it."

"Hollywood Week" was filmed in December with more than 300 contestants from auditions held around the country. Gillies, who is studying at Berklee College of Music, made it through auditions in East Rutherford, N.J., and Portland, Ore., to earn her prized "golden ticket" to Hollywood.

"It got really crazy really fast," she said.

She got her ticket with a bold move — singing Aerosmith's hit "Cryin' " in front of a panel that includes Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.

"If it's OK with you," she said in a quiet voice, addressing Tyler directly, "I would really love to sing one of your songs, Steven, if that's all right."

Gillies launched into an emotional rendition of the Top-20 hit from 1993. She began in a lower register, then soared into soprano territory to smiles and encouraging nods from the judges, who stopped her midway through the song.

"Nice, different, good," Tyler told a smiling Gillies. "You belted it out. We've been missing that all morning."

"Nice tone, nice round tone," judge Jennifer Lopez agreed. "The minute you opened your mouth, I was like, 'Wow.' "

"If you got it, you got it. You got it," judge Randy Jackson concluded. "See, that's how you do it."

All three judges voted "yes" for Gillies to continue on in the competition. She jumped excitedly up and down as the camera followed her offstage.

"Oh my God, it was crazy. I've never sung in front of celebrities before," she said Sunday. "It was very, very nerve-wracking.

"Steven Tyler is someone that I really look up to. J-Lo as well. I'm pretty sure I didn't take my eyes off J-Lo the entire time. She is the most gorgeous person you've ever seen."

Gillies said she made a hasty choice to cover "Cryin'," which is one of her favorite songs.

"It was a song I had covered before," she said. "If I had it to do over, I might not do that one again. But, obviously, it went over pretty well."

She's a little nervous about watching herself on TV.

"It's kind of hard. You're your own worst critic," she said. "The whole time, I'm like, 'My hair looked so bad. That note was so horrible. Why did they edit it that way?' "

Gillies developed her love of music while attending Susquehanna Waldorf School in Marietta. She solidified a desire for a music career at Lancaster Catholic High School, where she graduated in 2008.

That passion carried over to Berklee, where Gillies said teachers have been urging her to do something like this for a long time.

Born in Arizona, she's the daughter of Mike and Renee Gillies and has lived in Akron since she was 10.

"My wife and I, we're proud of Naomi for a million reasons," Mike Gillies said Sunday. "She's a sweetheart. She doesn't have a huge chunk of ego involved in this. She just loves what she does."

Her parents, who also are under strict orders not to talk about upcoming broadcasts, are understandably proud.

"Oh, I think it is amazing," Mike Gillies said Sunday. "She's geared for this type of competition. She's grown up watching the show.

"We watched the first season together, and it's always been in the back of her mind."

Mike Gillies said his daughter started taking voice lessons, working with several local instructors, when she was around 10 years old.

She was active in musical theater at school and competed at the state and regional levels for concert choir, he said.

He's pleased that she's taking a double major at Berklee, backing up a performance degree with music business.

"Long ago, we sat down and talked about what her real goals were, her life goals," he said. "She wants a long career. She doesn't want to be a flash in the pan. And, in some ways, that goes against the grain of the 'American Idol' pursuit, but this is another notch in her belt of experience.

"She wants to be well-rounded and able to work in the industry beyond just having a performing career."

Unlike many performers, Gillies said she is very "shy by nature."

In fact, her first public appearance — singing "Sometimes" by Britney Spears when she was 4 or 5 years old — was at a karaoke bar.

"I remember I was so nervous they took the TV monitor and turned it so that I had my back to the audience," Gillies said.

Older and more confident, Gillies won the 2007 Lancaster Headliners singing competition and sang the National Anthem at a Lancaster Barnstormers baseball game.

She currently sings with K2, a Boston-based wedding band.

"I think she's built for this kind of thing," her father said Sunday. "She's a shy person, but I've watched her bring entire auditoriums to tears. There's something in her that, when she goes to perform, can block that out."

Gillies' Portland audition and a "Road to Hollywood" interview are available online at americanidol.com.

The show will be televised locally at 8 p.m. on Fox 43.

Correspondent Mary Ellen Wright contributed to this report.